TOPIC: What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

It was the best of times: I never played the HD/Udon version before and the graphics are fun. Plus, I'm playing a version of the greatest head-to-head video game ever designed.

It was the worst of times: I thought the Shotokan Bros were bad before!? In the arcades I was always fighting Kens and Ryus with the occasional Chun-li. Now...all Violent Kens, Evil Ryus, and Akumas. Gets old. I used to not attack when my opponent is dizzy, but in my frustration against always fighting the same characters...I'm going against my code...

I know everyone was wondering, so I'll tell ya...I run a trio of Dee Jay, Fei Long, and E. Honda. I especially love destroying shotokans with Fei Long and Honda because they lack projectiles. Ohhh...what a rush!

It's the new game from the people that made Bastion and that other game. Oh yeah, Transistor. Nobody seemed to like it, but it was really neat. They make a quality, compelling product so I actually bought this without even reading a review. I actually didn't even know it was coming out, I actually had not heard anything about it...because lately, if it's not Nintendo, Blizzard, From Software, or something with GW on it I haven't paid much attention to video games.

So...I was pretty stunned by what it turned out to be. It is a SPORTS game. Straight up. Despite all of the fantasy froo-frah and pretentiousness/preciousness these folks like to coat their games with, it probably has much more to do with NBA Jam than Final Fantasy. But more than that, it is a sports game with a campaign, and that's where the RPG business kicks in...because really, campaigns in sports games really are sort of RPGs anyway.

The story is...interesting. It's definitely a ground-up kind of world building and it's pretty interesting. But it all serves to frame up these "Rites", which are 3-on-3 ball games. Sure, there's this business about them being some kind of highly ritualized blah blah blahs and soul orbs and so forth, but really you are trying to get one of your players to either slam dunk or 3-point the ball into the other players' titular pyre. As the story goes on, which is sort of visual novel-y, you bring on new players and they level up. You can do 1 on 1 training with them occasionally, equip them with talismans, etc...and sometimes the story dictates that some players won't play in some games or whatever...and they get miffed if you don't put them in, coach.

On the field, you can only move player at a time, which is interesting, and it makes it feel like a hybrid real time/turn based thing. Each player has an aura, which is what humans call a tackle zone. If an opponent touches the tackle zone, they get banished for a while and drop the ball if they had it. You can also charge up and shoot your aura out. There's also jumping, passing, throwing, intercepts, blocking, and so forth. With one-eyed fish dudes, mustachioed dogs, horned women, and something called a "Drive Imp".

They all have different abilities, strengths, weaknesses, etc...but this is a game where stats are things like "Hope" and "Presence". You make money and can buy and sell stuff from this cart. Most of the "overworld" is linear, but there are numerous binary choices that will probably affect some kind of outcome. You also have opportunities to practice vocations, which is where you can train, forage or read. Because your character, for reasons I have to see, is called The Reader.

I'm only about 3 hours in, but so far it is what I would call almost phenomenal. It is unlike anything else out there, the mechanics are really interesting, and it is the kind of game I have been wishing existed for years- a fantasy sports thing that isn't as slow to play as Blood Bowl. I do kind of wish some of the visual novel stuff was, well, swifter but overall the story to this point has been pretty compelling and the characters are endearing. I get a sense that it's going to be like Fire Emblem or something, at some point characters are going to have to leave, die, or otherwise leave the party.

One thing I REALLY like about it is that there is no obvious sense of impact yet. I've lost a couple of Rites, and I'm not really sure what that means. But I've not felt like I had to go back and replay them or anything like that because I want to see what happens. I like this feeling of having no clue what this is all building to. The game has already surprised me with a couple of unexpected activities and variations.

I'm still tooling around the universe in elite dangerous. At this point I've got a mining ship, an exploration ship, and a murder wagon.

I've realized that some places have no "law" and those are the best ones. I basically fly around the place, stopping random people and killing them. So, I'm basically like a space cop. I want to get a headset just so I can say "GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND! STOP RESISTING!!!" before killing them.

Mechanically the game is solid AF. But it's almost TOO open. I mean, I've flown around and done inane missions to unlock engineers who modify my ship parts but it's SO rote. I've also taken part in some massive "community goals" stuff which doesn't feel like a community effort as much as a bunch of individuals doing individual shit but that has a chart showing where you rank among participants, which seems little like community.

Still, I persevere. Until I get flush again I'm basically going to play this and Fallout 4 again. Maybe Diablo 3. I really want to get back into Metro series but I don't like playing superviolent shit when the kids are around.

Maybe I'll have to try him more, but so far, Doomfist (just released yesterday in Overwatch) is decidedly not my hero. I think I'd have to play him a lot to get the hang of his ability timing. Not only are his 3 different punch/movement abilities on awkward cool-downs, but his main gun (which actually seems pretty strong) only has 4 shots and you don't reload it all at once- they come back piecemeal, maybe a little faster than Tracer's blinks. When I want to play an offensive character, I'll stick to Pharah, Reaper (his lifesteal buff is cool), Tracer, and sometimes Soldier 76. Punching people is probably really satisfying if you can get good with him, I bet.

Checked out the new horde mode on Titanfall 2, after having been away from the game for a long time. Felt good to stomp around again, and to shoot dumb AI opponents instead of the high level murderers playing MP.